Improvement in invalid-chairs



UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICECB T. J. BLACKBURN ANI) E. l). TERREL, OFSPRING HILLS, OHIO.

IMPROVEMENT IN INVALID-CHAIRS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent N0. 49,849, dated September12, 1865.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, T. J. BLACKBURN and E. P. TERREL, of Spring Hills,in the county of Champaign and State oi'Ohio, haveinvented a new andImproved Invalid-Chair; and we do hereby declare that the followingis afull, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable othersskilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming part ot' this specification, in which-Figure l is a vertical section of our invention, taken in the line @c m,Fig. 2. Fig. 2 is a plan or top View.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts.

Ourinvention consists in pivoting the back to the frame in such mannerthat the person may regulate its inclination to a position for sittingor reclining by means of suitable arms attached to a rock-shaft, whicharms bear against the lower portion of the back, and are operated by ahand-lever easily reached by the occupant ofthe chair; and it alsoconsists in arranging a slide-board on the front part of the chair,connected to the back by a rod in such manner that it may be slid out ordrawn in, according to the inclination ofthe back.

To enable others to understand our invention we will proceed to describeit.

A B B U represent the frame ofour invalidchair, which is made of anydesirable or appropriate construction, B constituting the legs thereof.

D is the back, which is pivoted to the part B of the frame at a pointnear the center of its length in such manner as to permit it Vto bethrown back or forward to any desired angle.

a is a rock-shaft orking in journals arranged on the under side ot' thepart C oi' the frame near the center of thechair. Two arms, b, areattached to this rock-shaft in such manner that they will bear againstthe lowerpart of the back D and serve as adjustable braces and stops forthe said back.

c is a lever attached to the rockshaft a, and it extends up above thepart A of the frame, so as to be easily operated by the hand of theperson sitting or reclining. It is arranged to move back and forth in aguideway, d, and has on it a pawl or catch, which gears into a suitablerack or toothed plate, j', on the part A ofthe frame, which serves toretain it, and

consequently7 all the other parts, in the desired position.

E is a slide-board arranged to move out and in on the front part ofthechair, so as to form an extension to the seat thereof, and it isconnected to the back D by a rod, e, in such manner that when the saidback is raised to a nearly-vertical position the slide-board will bedrawn in, but will be slid out accordingly as the back is inclined.

From the above description it will be seen that the person using ourinvalid-chair can regulate theangle of theback easily and quick- 1y toenable him to assume a vertical or reclining position, or vice versa, ashe may desire, without the assistance of another person; and the use ofthe slide permits the chair to be made much shorter and less cumbersomethan were it not used, and it operates automatically with the back.

To render more easy the operation ofthe arms b, we, in some cases,purpose nsinga roller on the end of each arm, the advantage of whichwill be readily understood.

We propose to make two forms of this invalid-chair, one designedparticularly for a chair and the other ior a bed, the latter being, ofcourse, much longer than the former.

Aside from the use of our invention as an invalid-chair, it will befound convenient as a childs crib, as well as an easychair for anyperson who desires acomfortable position when smoking, reading1 orsitting at leisure.

What we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. The arms b, extending from the rockshaft a, serving as adjustablebraces and stops, in combination with the back D, arranged to operatesubstantially as herein shownand described.

2. Pivoting the back D to the frame at a point near the center of itslength, so as to bring its lower part in the path of the arms l),substantially as herein specified.

3. The slide-board E, forming an extension to the seat, in combinationwith the rod e and back D, arranged to operate substantially as hereinshown and described T. J. BLACKBURN. E. P. TERREL.

Witnesses:

A. CORNELL, E. T. Davis.

